building something special at VCU, no doubt about it. By no means do I think he is a lifer but he'll have his pick of jobs in a couple of years. I think he is waiting for an elite blue blood to have a job opening and then he'll accept it for the challenge and not the money.

With no more "Shaka" "Smart" puns left for me to use, you could say I'm being punished for posting on this thread later?!?! Get it? Huh? Huh?

Anyways, I want to say I'm surprised at this, but you don't sign an 8 year contract after taking a mid-major program to the final four (which makes you a hot coaching commidity) unless you're in it for the long haul. Sucks for Illinois, but major win for VCU.

...for not leaving VCU. He's taking the Rams to places they haven't been, including the Final Four last year and at least staying competitive against Indiana in a 2nd round game this year, and I think the fans there are absolutely liking the possibility of making some noise from year to year, especially when you represent a conference that is not on the radar of many casual fans of the game. To do what Smart has done with what must be limited resources isn't easy, and I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to see the challenge through. That, and Illinois is a tire fire from a morale standpoint, it seems - it takes a lot to put out a tire fire.

As for Illinois, was there a Plan B? I have to believe that they considered this possibility, because the ESPN article only mentions that they contacted the head coach at Simeon Career Academy in Chicago. If Plan A was getting a successful mid-major coach and Plan B was trolling Chicagoland high schools, I would be somewhat worried about the future if I was a fan of the Illini.